In the scene before the princes are slaughtered, Mord goes to the trouble of making sure Richard (the young one) is tucked into bed along with Edward. Why? They were gonna be murdered anyway, and it seemed a little late in the game to show he had a "soft spot" for kids or otherwise humanize him.
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My guess was it was indeed done to somewhat "humanize" Mord. It showed that even he was taken aback by Richard's bloodlust and ruthlessness. He suddenly realized that these were helpless children he was to kill, not the full-grown men he lusted to slay on the battlefield.
I think he wanted to make sure the princes were together and that they should trust him.Why? So they wouldn't give him too much trouble by running around when he had to kill them.This is one of Karloff's most thuggishly evil roles
shareNo, it was to show just how evil the Basil character was. Even Mord couldn't stomach to do all the killing,
shareI'd have liked some back-story on Mord, to learn how and why he ended up the headsman and torturer. Maybe as a "drag-foot" he came in for some abuse when younger? Medieval times were hard on the physically-different.
shareNotice that he returns with three other men and that they do the actual killing. So yes, it's about his discomfort with this one murder.
shareYeah, it was to humanize Mord, which doesn't really work, considering he already murdered the messenger boy earlier in the film with no sign of guilt.
shareHe was shown knocking down the messenger boy and with his foot on the boy's back restraining him, but the boy was still moving. He wasn't killed, just roughed up a bit.
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